Quake Champions tournament to be held at QuakeCon

Id Software is positioning Quake Champions, its upcoming first-person shooter, as a major esports title.

To jumpstart the game's tournament scene, id will hold a Quake Champions tournament at QuakeCon 2017 in August—before the game is even released.

"We're very focused on esports," Quake Champions executive director Tim Willits said in an interview with Russian esports site GoodGame.ru, with translation via ESReality. "Quake has a long history of esports and we definitely want to work with a number of partners to ensure that we will have as many tournaments as possible."

Id didn't release additional details about the tournament.

Willits also revealed that id is looking to optimize certain game modes for esports. "After talking to a lot of pro players, the one versus one (duel) is something that's missing in the first-person esports scene," Willits said.

Sacrifice, Quake Champions' team death match game variant, is also receiving feedback from professional players. Ranked matchmaking will be available for both game modes, Willits said.

All Quake Champions champions will be free for those who purchase the full game, Willits confirmed. Players will be able to begin checking them out when the closed beta begins in the coming weeks.

When the closed beta opens, players may be able to play on a classic Quake map that Willits said will make it into the new game, though he wouldn't say exactly which one.